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Seven forces Rafters fansite to shut

Network Seven lawyers have instructed a fan website for Packed to the Rafters to close down and hand over the domain. TV Tonight talks exclusively to a disappointed webmaster, who is all of 18 years old.

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The Seven Network has muscled in on a website packedtotherafters.com.au run by an 18 year old fan, after it deemed his site would cause confusion with the show’s official website.

Seven’s own website is at the clunky address http://au.tv.yahoo.com/b/packed-to-the-rafters/

But now the network wants the webmaster, Michael, who started the site based on his love of the new Seven drama, to close down the site and hand over the domain.

Michael says he was shocked when he read the email from Seven lawyers.

“I couldn’t believe they required me to hand over the domain which means shutting down the entire site,” he told TV Tonight. “I had a feeling that one day they might require me to make it more obvious that it wasn’t the official website. I would get emails from other fans saying how much they loved the show and asked questions, I would always make sure I stated that we weren’t the official website and pointed them in the right direction.”

The site now tells readers: ‘Due to matters out of our hands packedtotherafters.com.au has been shut down & taken offline. We would like to thank everyone who helped get the site up and running & appreciate all those who visited the site and left comments. I hope you enjoy the final episode of the series on Tuesday night. I can’t wait for series two!’

Fans would always compliment him for updating the site, which added content more regularly than Seven’s.

But a disappointed Michael  is complying with the request, saying he can’t afford to take Seven on legally. He says Seven has agreed to cover the cost of the initial registration fee but he is hoping the network may reconsider its demands.

Given the revenue Seven has generated from the number #1 series of 2008, it would certainly be nice if they could find it within their pockets to dig a little deeper, especially for a fan who was smart enough to register it.

“I’m left extremely disappointed that after all the time and effort I put into it the blog has gone to waste and all because I wanted to keep other fans informed about news, rumours & information about the show I fell in love with,” Michael said.

62 Responses

  2. Natasha, they made him transfer it to them or legal action would be take.

    Nadine, that means that Michael can simply register a .info domain for the site. .Info is for information which it can be said to be based on information about the show.

  6. Ryan,

    There’s no breaches in .net and .net.au it only applies to .com or .com.au since they are commercial therefore go by whoever owns the copyright.

    If people think it’s just to do with Australia, they’re wrong it applies to every country that has copyright laws in place.

  9. Our rights to free speech in this country are ever more being trampled down by corporate bullies and their political allies who want totalitarian control over how and where we may express our opinions or fandom online.

    It seems to be commonplace now for heavy-handed lawyers to be called in just because some ‘ordinary Joe’ has the audacity to create or do something that they claim a monopoly over. If the genuine product was easily accessible and of good enough quality they should have nothing to fear from fandom.

    When eventually Australia’s net becomes a hollowed out clean-feed of only safe and authorised blandness, we’ll know we should have defended its freedoms.

  11. Technically speaking anyone can make up a fake ABN and register a domain name, you don’t strictly need an ABN to register a .com.au – but if you are asked to give it back to the owners of the .com.au name, then you have no choice but to comply.

  13. This is pretty sad on Sevens behalf. What is the exact reason that Seven wants this taken offline?

    I would not give them domain, they could sue me all they want but they would have to have a really good reason.

    Isaac, in regards to your post, you need a ABN before you can purchase a .Au domain, how Michael got it, i don’t know how.

  15. This is so unnecessary. Someone makes a quality fan site (for free!) that’s actually promoting 7’s product and they call their lawyers. The official site is next to useless and has very little info on it. Ditto for most tv shows hosted on the Yahoo7 site (they look cheap and dodgy… is that 7’s fault or Yahoo’s?). Instead of forcing the site to shut down, they should have just worked with the guy to keep it going. Commercial networks in Australia don’t seem to have a clue about how to treat their viewers or how to take advantage of stuff like this… it’s free promotion you nitwits.

  16. Wow I never thought this would happen. Why are Channel Seven doing this to a 18 year old guy who just wants to promote the show he loves to watch? I don’t understand why they are doing this as Home and Away has four fan sites – “Back to the Bay”, “Summer Bay Journal”, Home and Away Central” and “Surfin’ Summer Bay” which all don’t seem to have a problem with copyright issues etc.

    Hopefully I won’t have this problem with my site “Jazer’s Aussie Craze” which has a lot of Australian television content on it. But sadly you never know what these big television companies will do to the little guy.

    Hey Michael don’t let these bullies let you down, when you get your fan site back up I will make sure to put a link on my site for people to check out your site!

    Don’t Give Up mate!!!

  17. my website is a .com.au site and I don’t have an ABN nor am I a business and it’s nobodys business…if they want to sue…sue! If you dont register and claim a website its open for anyone to take!
    The guy should fight….7 had no right!

  18. Naughty Seven.
    Maybe instead of acting like big bully, you could of asked young enterprising kid if he could also promote the official site at same time or come to a commonsense arrangement.
    Hold that thought – networks do not understand meaning of commonsense.

  19. I’m still surprised at how Michael managed to get a .com.au URL to start with.

    @Mike Beckham – I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, the Roving Enterprises crew know how to treat their fans.

    I was highly impressed at the effort they put in to ensure we enjoyed our night.

  22. I understand the copyright issues.. but I hope that seven will be kind enough to not only compensate the poor guy for it. not just the registration fee but also let the fan have a tour of them filming!

    it would be the kind thing to do.. but it is channel seven.. so it probably won’t happen will it..

  23. well the law is the law, but surely they can come up with a negotiation with a similar domain, and splash “unnofficial” all over it.

    i doubt ACA will do it too much reverse cross promotion for them.

  24. All TV shows should be purchasing the .com / .com.au address when they show is in development, before the public knows about it. Michael got in first due to Seven’s poor thinking, he should have every right to have it.

    As other people have said, fan based sites are often way better than the official site such as PerfectBlend.net, a website for Neighbours which has so more background info, news and spoilers than the official neighbours.com

  25. Contact A Current Affair, they’d eat this up. The person who runs RoveOnline got invited backstage at the show – so not all companies are as bad as Seven.

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